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Questrade review 2023

Low fees, many types of securities and a rich array of research tools are just some of Questrade's perks.

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By

Frank Corva

&

Claire Horwood

Edited by

Holly Jennings

Reviewed by

Jaclyn Hurst

Updated

Fact checked

Our verdict

Consider Questrade if you want to cut down on fees and take the lead on managing your investments. Look elsewhere if you don't have $1,000 upfront to open an account.

Best for: Self-directed investors.

Pros
  • Questrade charges lower trading fees than many big banks and private brokers.
  • Trade stocks, IPOs, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, commodities, GICs, options, CFDs, forex and precious metals.
  • Deposit up to $10,000/day with your Canadian Visa or Interac Debit card, and start trading immediately.
  • The Questrade Edge version of the platform has a highly customizable interface and offers advanced trading tools as well as a profit and loss calculator.
Cons
  • You need at least $1,000 to open an account.
  • The minimum investment amount for bonds and GICs is $5,000.
  • No fractional share trading.
4.3

★★★★★

Finder rating

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Stock Trading Fee

$4.95 - $9.95

Min. Deposit

$1,000

Signup Offer

Get $50 in free trades when you fund your account with a minimum of $1,000.

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Questrade

Learn more on Questrade's secure site

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More features of Questrade

  • Real-time quotes. View the latest stock data to make the most of your investments.
  • Many account types. Choose between RRSPs, LIRAs, RIFs, RESP, business accounts, trusts, cash and margin accounts.
  • Global investing. Bet on the price movement of currencies and assets in 15+ global markets.
  • Easy application. Open an account in minutes using Questrade‘s simple online application.
  • Advanced trading interface. Questrade Edge offers a highly-customizable interface and advanced trading tools to help more frequent traders execute their trades with greater precision.

How we rated Questrade’s features

Fees

★★★★★

Low stock trade fees. Buy ETFs for free (fee to sell). No annual fees for RRSPs and TFSAs.
Available securities

★★★★★

Stocks, IPOs, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, GICs, options, CFDs, forex and precious metals.
Customer support

★★★★★

You can contact customer support by phone and live chat from Monday to Friday.
Mobile app

★★★★★

Users praise recent improvements to the mobile app but report some features could be more convenient.
Research and tools

★★★★★

Advanced charting capabilities, discussion boards and TipRanks-powered research.
Reliability

★★★★★

99.963% uptime in the last 90 days according to Downtime Expert. No major outages reported.

To learn how our star ratings are calculated, read our methodology at the bottom of the page.

Questrade is best for self-directed investors

One of Canada’s most established online discount brokerage firms, Questrade is best for investors who feel comfortable taking charge of their investments. However, the platform offers professionally-managed portfolios if you want expert help.

The benefits of investing with Questrade include low trading fees, many investment options and an easy-to-use digital platform that’s suitable for both beginners and experts.

And for seasoned traders who take trades on a daily or semi-daily basis, Questrade Edge offers advanced trading and charting tools to help you to capitalize on the market’s moment-to-moment moves.

What you can trade on Questrade

  • Stocks
  • IPOs
  • Bonds
  • ETFs
  • Mutual funds
  • GICs
  • Options
  • CFDs
  • Forex
  • Precious metals

Where Questrade shines

Besides offering a wide range of investments and account types, Questrade’s desktop and mobile platforms are easy to use. Sign up for an account in minutes, upload a handful of personal documents, fund your account and then start trading at home or on the go with Questrade‘s desktop and mobile apps.

Take the platform for a test run with a Questrade practice account, which lets you simulate trades using fake funds. Get $500,000 CAD and $500,000 USD in virtual cash, and try all features for free for 90 days.

Use the Edge version of the platform if you’d like to take advantage of price alerts, a profit and loss calculator and hotkeys to more precisely execute trades.

Where Questrade falls short

Questrade’s biggest drawback is its high minimum deposit. You need at least $1,000 to open an account and at least $5,000 to trade bonds or GICs.

Many other online trading platforms like Wealthsimple, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Interactive Brokers and Qtrade have low or no minimum balance requirements.

Questrade’s fees

Minimum deposit$1,000
Annual fee$0
Stocks and (buy) ETF trade fees$4.95 - $9.95 (Free to sell ETFs)
Inactivity fee$0
Transfers$0 EFTs up to $50,000 CAD and $25,000 USD. $20 per CAD wire transfer, $30 per USD wire transfer.
Stop payment, NSF fees$25 per stop payment, $30 per NSF cheque/returned item

Is Questrade legit?

Questrade is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

Questrade offers several platforms with rich tools

Questrade offers five trading platforms:

  • Questrade Trading — a web-based platform that lets you trade stocks and ETFs and conduct research on your investments.
  • QuestMobile — a mobile app with all the functionality of Questrade Trading.
  • Questrade Edge — available in both web and desktop versions, this advanced trading platform offers stock, ETF and options trading, a customizable trading interface and hotkeys to help you more precisely execute trades.
  • Questrade Edge Mobile — a mobile app with most of the functionality of the Questrade Edge platform.
  • Questrade Global — available as both a desktop and mobile app, this platform lets you trade forex and commodities on international markets.

Questrade Trading and QuestMobile

Questrade Trading and its mobile counterpart — QuestMobile — provide you with a clean interface and the basic features you need to start investing in stocks and ETFs.

Both versions of the platform make it easy to place market and limit orders, and trading commissions for stocks on the platform are relatively cheap — ranging from $4.95 to $9.95, depending on the size of the trade. Meanwhile, buying and selling ETFs is free.

Plus, Questrade Trading and QuestMobile provide you with daily market updates as well as professional research to help inform your investment decisions.

Features of Questrade and QuestMobile include:

  • Customizable stock watchlists, to help keep track of future potential stock or ETF buys
  • IPO Centre, for information on upcoming Initial Public Offerings
  • Intraday Trader, to match investment opportunities with your watchlist
  • The Morning Brief, for a daily outlook on the stock market
  • Market analysis from TipRanks

Questrade edge

Questrade Edge and Questrade Edge Mobile

Questrade Edge and its mobile version are Questrade’s advanced trading platforms built for seasoned traders and investors. These two platforms let you trade derivative financial products, including bracket, conditional and multi-leg options in addition to stocks and ETFs.

They also allow you to place stop and trailing stop orders. And you can use the stock screener function to help you to more efficiently sort through stocks, ETFs and options contracts based on your own criteria.

Features of Questrade Edge and Questrade Edge Mobile include:

  • Customizable trading interface (only on Questrade Edge)
  • Hotkeys, to help more precisely execute trades (only on Questrade Edge)
  • Access to market research and analysis from Morningstar and TipRanks
  • Price alerts, to keep you updated on when it might be time to buy or sell
  • Profit and loss calculator, to help gauge the risk/reward ratio of an option strategy

Questrade Global

Questrade Global lets you trade forex and commodities on more than 15 different international exchanges through a feature-rich, professional-grade trading platform available on both desktop and mobile.

Features of Questrade Global:

  • Technical indicators to help you more accurately execute trades
  • Price alerts via pop-ups and email
  • Calendar of economic announcements (e.g., CPI data)
  • Customizable watchlists

Questrade and Questrade Edge’s app store reviews

Questrade Google Play app reviews2.1/5 stars based on 2.72k ratings
Questrade Edge Google Play app reviewsN/A
Questrade Apple App Store app reviews1.7/5 stars based on 2k ratings
Questrade Edge Apple App Store app reviews4.4/5 stars based on 38 ratings

Questrade’s customer support

You can reach Questrade‘s customer support in 3 ways:

  • Online chat
  • Email support
  • Phone

How to open an account with Questrade

  1. Click the “Sign up now” button below and click “Get started”.
  2. Provide personal information like your name, email address, proof of ID and relevant documents.
  3. Review and submit your application.
  4. Get verified (usually takes 1-2 business days) and load funds into your account to start trading.
  5. Set up a Questrade practice account if you want to take the platform for a test drive.

Eligibility and required information

  • At least the age of majority in the province or territory in which you live
  • Valid phone number and residential and email address
  • Valid Social Insurance Number

Sign up now

How safe is Questrade?

Questrade follows industry-standard best practices to protect users’ money and data. This includes 256-bit SSL encryption, firewalls, multifactor authentication and automated alerts. Questrade‘s Online Security Guarantee states that you’ll be 100% reimbursed for direct monetary losses due to unauthorized transactions, provided you’ve met your responsibilities.

Frequently asked questions about Questrade

  1. Questrade partners with TipRanks to boost investors’ stock research capabilities 2 June 2021

Compare Questrade with other platforms

Questrade logo

Questrade

★★★★★

Finder rating 4.3 / 5

Go to site

Available Asset Types

Stocks, Bonds, Options, Mutual Funds, ETFs, GICs, International Equities, Precious Metals

Stock Trading Fee

$4.95 - $9.95

Min. Deposit

$1,000

Signup Offer

Get $50 in free trades when you fund your account with a minimum of $1,000.

Interactive Brokers logo

Interactive Brokers

★★★★★

Finder rating 4.3 / 5

Go to site

Available Asset Types

Stocks, Bonds, Options, ETFs, Currencies, Futures

Stock Trading Fee

min $1.00, max 0.5%

Min. Deposit

$0

Signup Offer

CIBC Investor's Edge logo

CIBC Investor's Edge

★★★★★

Finder rating 3.8 / 5

Go to site

Available Asset Types

Stocks, Bonds, Options, Mutual Funds, ETFs

Stock Trading Fee

$4.95–$6.95

Min. Deposit

$0

Signup Offer

How we rate trading platforms

★★★★★ 5/5 — Excellent

★★★★★ 4/5 — Good

★★★★★ 3/5 — Average

★★★★★ 2/5 — Subpar

★★★★★ 1/5 — Poor

We analyze top online trading platforms and rate them one to five stars based on factors that are most important to you. These factors include fees, securities available for trade, customer support, customer feedback, platform resources and overall reliability.

For a complete breakdown of how we score each category, read the full methodology of how we rate trading platforms.

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